By Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come
across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz
All this week’s contributions are from Bruce Hammonds:
Providing Space for Wonder: Fostering
Children's Natural Sense of Inquiry
“Why
is the sky blue? Who invented the toilet? Why do zebras have stripes? As any
parent of a preschool- or elementary school–age child can
attest, children are born with a natural sense of curiosity. It is this innate
sense of wonder that will lead and support our students' lifelong journeys of
discovery and learning. As educators, we have a moral obligation to not only
allow for our students' inquisitiveness, but to also foster and support this
powerful, often untapped potential.” |
| See maths ecerywhere |
How to get children to want to do maths outside the classroom
How to get children to want to do maths – try some maths walks
“Ask
adults about maths and they’ll often say: “I
was never very good at maths at school”. How can we
stop young children growing up today saying the same thing. One way to develop
ownership is to take children on a “maths walk”,
opening their eyes up to the world around them. It’s like a treasure hunt, with the treasures hidden all around us
waiting to be observed.”
Three Lessons For Teachers From Grant Wiggins
This advice is offered so that each student can
continue to benefit from Wiggins' teachings and wisdom.
“While
Grant is no longer with us, his spirit and ideas live on. Indeed, we can honor
and celebrate his life’s work by acting on
the sage advice that he offered to teachers over the years. As we prepare to
meet our new students, let us consider three of Grant’s sensible and salient lessons for teachers.”
Five Strategies for Questioning with Intention
The art of questioning by Art Costa and Bella
Kallick
 |
| Bella and Art |
“One
of a teacher's most important practices is designing and posing questions.
Knowing that questions are the gateway into students' thinking, masterful
teachers don't just ask a lot of questions; they purposefully design and pose
questions that are appropriate for each learning goal—questions
that will bring about the specific kinds of student learning they are aiming
for.”
The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning
The real oil about brain friendly learning.
“The
realities of standardized tests and increasingly structured, if not
synchronized, curriculum
Beyond the Factory Model
Blended learning – many schools are moving into personalised
blended learning to move out of a factory one size fits all model.
“A
foundation-funded experiment is testing whether“blended
learning”
can personalize instruction in eight Oakland schools.
Blended learning combines brick-and-mortar schooling with online education “with
some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace” of
learning, according to the Clayton Christensen Institute definition of the
term.”
Classrooms Flooded with Devices.
Remember B.F. Skinner’s teaching machine? Are similar claims being made for today’s technology?
“By
repeatedly rotating a little wheel on the machine’s side, each child was presented with a question and its answer, then
another question and its answer and so on. The feedback was instant. Each child
could move at their own pace. Learning was fun instead of hard work. It was
obvious to Skinner that this technology was going to change the face of
education forever. Except it didn’t.”
Nine of the Best Ways to Boost Creative Thinking
“When
it comes to creativity, one of our biggest concerns is usually how we can be
more creative, or how to come up with better ideas. Research in this area is
all over the place, but I’ve gathered some of
the most practical studies out there to help you utilize specific techniques
that can boost your creativity.
All of these studies are useful for everyday creativity in daily
life, so try a few out for yourself and see which ones work best for you.”
Don’t Assume I'm Smarter Than My
Contractor: Why Schooling Helps Us Devalue the Nonacademic
It is not only what school think is worth
knowing – shame teachers don’t understand this
“Whether
we mean to or not, we constantly reinforce the message that only the stuff kids
are taught in school counts as serious learning. Extracurriculars are fine, but
what really counts is in their textbooks and homework.We send them to school
precisely because we believe that’s where they’ll be taught the most important subjects. We grade them on those
things, and in many ways we measure their worth (at least while they’re in school) by how well they do on tests and school assignments.”
From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:
New Literacies for a New Millennium
Reading has shaped our brains!
“It is hard to imagine that such an innocent act as reading could
limit our thinking. After all what could be more innocuous than reading a book?
Creativity: process or product?
 |
| Quote by Goethe |
What’s often missing in many classrooms are the ‘voices’ and personal creativity of the students.
The point of the creative process is for
each student to produce a piece of work (research, poetry, art or dance) that
represents the best a learner can do; a piece of work or performance to be
proud of. We are what we create to a degree.To many teachers do not understand
that to develop student creativity they need to
do 'fewer things well' to allow their students to 'dig deeply' into any
experience and then to express what they discover with individual creativity.
See nothing, hear nothing, don't talk to
anyone!
Time for the elites to listen to voices
of the people.
The only way we will get a real change in
the basic script of our society is for central government to start listening to
the voices of the wider community and, in education in particular, to the
voices of teachers, students and their parents.
Unlocking the treasure within
Unlocking the treasure within with regard to
Maori students.
“Perhaps there is no way for schools to develop their Maori students
learning unless they dramatically change their style of teaching – and
if they did all this students would benefit.”
Observation and imagination
“Students who are taught to observe the intimate world of their
immediate environment not only see more, and have more to wonder and talk about
but, in the process, develop a wider vocabulary and ask more questions. From
this wealth of sensory experiences arises the source for talking, drawing and
early writing.”
Time to re-read John Holt
John Holt quotes on learning - more
pertinent than ever
Along with John Holt I now have to admit
that, after decades of encouraging school transformation, I have also come to
Holt's view about the impossibility of really transforming our antiquated
education system.
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